quizzes

Test your knowledge of key financial literacy topics

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Debt.com’s personal finance quizzes give you a fun and easy way to see if you’re as money-savvy as you think.

Financial literacy refers to the ability to understand key financial topics about debt, credit and money management. A high literacy level means you understand everything you need to know to manage your money effectively day to day. It’s also easier to overcome challenges as they arise. Unfortunately, financial literacy isn’t a topic that’s covered in school. Most of us learn about finance from our parents, word of mouth and – even worse – trial and error. But waiting until something goes wrong is no way to learn. That’s why Debt.com features personal finance quizzes like the ones you’ll find on this page. Interactive quizzes give you an easy way to test your knowledge, so you can know what you don’t know. We also have a general 10-question finance quiz at the bottom of the page to test your basic knowledge of debt and credit. If you find a topic you need to learn, visit Debt.com’s Education Center.

Income level determines if you qualify for subsidized federal student loans, where the government pays interest charges while you attend school. Anyone can qualify for federal aid; you just get unsubsidized loans if you income is high.

Income-based repayment plans are a solution that only apply to federal student loan debt. Both balance transfers and consolidation loans are do-it-yourself solutions for credit card debt. A debt management program is a professionally assisted credit card debt consolidation plan.

If you owe the IRS money during that filing year, penalty interest charges start the day after you filing was due (usually on April 16). This is true even if you file an extension. Interest charges on tax debt can go as high as 25%.

You must make 120 qualified payments on a hardship-based repayment plan first, but then your remaining balances are forgiven, regardless of how much you owe. This also works for police officers, firefighters, EMTs and other public service professionals.

5 key questions about credit

The negative item created by a Chapter 7 bankruptcy remains on your credit report ten years from the date of final discharge. Chapter 13 bankruptcy, like most other penalties, only sticks around for seven years.

Checking your own credit is considered a “soft” inquiry and these do not affect your score. Only “hard” inquiries where you authorize a bank or lender to run your credit can impact you credit score. Too many hard inquiries within a 6-month period is bad for your credit

Creditors only report late payments if you miss the payment by more than 30 days. If you just pay late, you incur penalties and added interest charges, but it should not negatively affect your credit as long as you pay within 30 days of the due date.

Each credit bureau (there are three in the U.S.) maintains their own private version of your credit report. So, every consumer actually has three reports. Each consumer also has multiple credit scores, since FICO, the credit bureaus and other scoring companies each have their own model. FICO is used in 90% of lending decisions.